After a contentious and emotional election, what now? The ‘Joy Lady’ Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts weighs in

Writer and Black joy advocate Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts discusses why Black people need to prioritize joy now more than ever.

If you’re struggling emotionally and don’t know where to find hope and joy after the results of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, you’re not alone.

In addition to roughly half of the country, even the self-proclaimed “Joy Lady” Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts is having a hard time in the election’s aftermath.

“Sis is struggling,” she admitted to theGrio.

The thought leader, writer, and storyteller explained that, in the first few days following the election, she’s been struggling to know how to guide others towards joy “in such a way that it doesn’t feel like I’m diminishing their rightful, righteous rage; the rightful grief and sorrow that people are feeling.”

She continued, “And so I’ve been struggling a little bit, because it’s like, I’m the Joy Lady, right? And so I’m supposed to be bringing the joy, and I’m trying to find it for myself. I’m trying to do the work that I’ve done over these last few years, to locate joy in my body so that I can get clarity on what my next move is.”

Even though it may be difficult to grasp joy at this moment, Lewis-Giggetts, author of “Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Restoration,” and its recent follow-up, “Black Joy Playbook: 30 Days of Intentionally Reclaiming Your Delight,” thinks joy is exactly what those struggling need right now.

“I will say that even in the midst of my struggle, I still believe that joy and reclaiming joy, accessing joy, is a huge factor in how we move forward,” she said.

Lewis-Giggetts said that ultimately, joy can become our greatest asset. However, one has to be able to take the time and effort to find joy in order to “wield it.”

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“Joy now becomes a tool for resistance, yes; but also a tool for healing,” she said, adding, “Specifically, we now can wield our joy, wield our humanity, wield our all of it — all the ways in which we move into the world, we can wield it in such a way that it defies what this person [and] these entities are trying to do.”

Though, she added, “We can’t wield something we can’t access. We can’t wield something that we are not willing to get still and acquire.”

Getting still and acquiring joy can look like many different things to many different people. For Lewis-Giggetts, seeking out laughter — in her case, from Netflix’s standup comedy offerings, tending to her garden, and going for walks — are a few ways she finds joy.

The “HEARTtalk” podcast host said finding joy can be relatively simple. It doesn’t have to be reserved for big things like vacations, milestones, and major moments. It could be meditating, journaling, or even gathering your people and being among the ones you love. It can even be as seemingly minimal as putting on Beyoncé’s “Cozy” during a moment of writer’s block and dancing it out, she said. 

“I think the next thing for us to do is for folks to get still enough to access all of the parts — the ways, the grief, and the joy that live simultaneously in our bodies,” Lewis-Giggetts said. “So that we can get a message as to what the next step is; what the next move is.”

For those rightfully asking “What now?” or what the next move is, she admitted, “I don’t know what the next move is. I wish I did … Like, how do we organize? What do we do? Do we just ‘Blaxit’ out of here, or do we stay and fight?”

What Lewis-Giggetts is clear on is that we must first honor the space we need to process. “What I do know is that we’re not going to be as effective as we would like in whatever the answer is if we do not take a beat here to restore,” she said. “[To] restore ourselves, refresh ourselves, [and] you know, access joy.”

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